Silent Photoplay Forum

Watched this the other day. A curious film. On one level it functions as a typical early-Forties musical comedy, but the framing story (which keeps intruding) is more of a self-aware comedy that subverts the Hollywood film genre in various ways. In the first few minutes it almost resembles the Monkees film "Head" (1968), and there are several gags later on which would be quite funny except for the fact that they were subsequently lifted by Warner Brothers for use in several now-familiar cartoons.

"Hellzapoppin'" began as a stage revue which was noted for subverting in certain ways the expectations of theatrical form (including the use of "plants" in the audience), but the film version was almost completely different because film was such a different medium. Anyway, YouTube has the whole thing. It was written by Nat Perrin, who also did a lot of writing for the Marx Brothers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2TOriWWSLE

Perhaps I should have put this under "Reviews." Feel free to move it there if you want.

dachshundonstilts wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 04, 2018 7:11 pm

Perhaps I should have put this under "Reviews." Feel free to move it there if you want.

As you see, I did!

Anyway, this sounds cool, and I dig the catchy name. I'll be watching this soon. Thanks for sharing!

An interesting sounding film. I think I've maybe seen a clip or two from that—are there any particular parts that stand out as famous scenes?

I don't know that I had seen any scenes from it before, so it's hard to say if any particular scenes are famous. I think it was influential as a whole, though, for its fourth-wall-breaking techniques and those gags that can be recognized from later Looney Tunes.

The music and dance group shown in the YouTube thumbnail is Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (also known as the Harlem Congeroos). Their scene is a musical highlight.

dachshundonstilts wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 05, 2018 5:04 pm

The music and dance group shown in the YouTube thumbnail is Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (also known as the Harlem Congeroos). Their scene is a musical highlight.

THAT's what I saw. I knew I had that title in my mind associated with something I liked. That dance scene is <<unbelievable>>.